DraftKings Closes $7M Series A Round

May 06, 2013 10:16 AM Eastern Daylight Time

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DraftKings, Inc., a leading provider of daily fantasy sports online with
offerings across the board in fantasy baseball, fantasy football,
fantasy basketball, and fantasy hockey, has closed a $7M Series A round
of funding led by Atlas Venture. DraftKings plans to use the money to
continue to perfect the customer experience and to broadly market its
online and mobile offerings in short-term fantasy sports play. Featuring
daily fantasy sports contests and same-day settlement, DraftKings makes
playing fantasy faster and more exciting for both seasoned and casual
players. Launched on April 28, 2012, the funding announcement comes
right as the company is celebrating its first anniversary.

After only 12 months in market, early results for DraftKings have been
impressive. In the past year, DraftKings has launched online fantasy
contests in six different sports, become the #1 daily fantasy sports
mobile app provider, and surpassed 1M users across its web and mobile
platforms. For the 2013 fantasy baseball season alone, DraftKings will
award over $20M in cash prizes, including its currently running “$5
Million Chase for the Crown” tournament.

Beyond cash prizes, DraftKings has also focused on rewarding its users
with great sporting experiences, such as sending one winner to the Super
Bowl last February.

“DraftKings’ average user spends over three hours per week on the site
and plays 2.6 different sports. We were amazed to see how popular
fantasy basketball became with our fantasy football customers, and we
are now seeing similar conversion from fantasy basketball to fantasy
baseball. Our products provide a true second screen complement to the
sports viewing experience, and we see our highest levels of engagement
during the actual games themselves,” said Jason Robins, CEO, DraftKings,
Inc.

"We remain bullish on the daily fantasy sports market and believe
DraftKings is poised to become the leader in this exciting segment of
the sports market," said Ryan Moore, Partner, AtlasVenture.

Launched in April 2012, Boston-based DraftKings is the online gaming
destination where players engage in daily fantasy sports competitions
across fantasy baseball, fantasy football, fantasy basketball, and
fantasy hockey. DraftKings offers free and pay contests every day that
pay cash prizes. All games are structured under salary cap format, and
new contests are offered every day with instantaneous payouts. For more
information, visit us at www.draftkings.com;
like us at www.facebook.com/draftkings
and follow us at www.twitter.com/draftkings.